Move Your Team Ahead of Its Balance

Do you ever intentionally throw your team off balance?

I once worked with another manager who had a completely different style than mine. He was direct, authoritative, boss-like. And yet, his people loved him. Style is just a start. And Russ backed up his style with a heart as big as all outdoors. Sure, he was boss like, but in a lovable, Lou Grant kind of heart-of-gold.

But his sense of humor was wicked funny. One day he told me that he was going to rearrange his team's workstations.

"I'm going to change every single one," he said. "Everyone is going to come to work and discover that they sit somewhere else."

"Won't that rock the boat?" I asked.

"Absolutely. It will rock them right out of their complacency. And the ones who have been relishing their coveted places will see what it's like next to the copy machine. And the one next to the copy machine will finally get a break. It will shake things up. Some of them will hate it."

"Did you talk with your team about it first?"

"Nah. I'm just going to do it. And you know why?"

"Why, Russ?"

"Because I can."

I laughed. And he laughed. And, he was completely serious. He did that and many other things to keep his team just slightly off balance occasionally. They didn't always know what to expect. Work life included surprises. Some of those surprises were delightful, and some were less than liked. But he had one of the strongest, most productive teams I've ever seen.

Style is just a start. High performance leaders back it up with coaching, mentoring, and just plain caring.

What can you do this week that might delight your team? What might throw them just off balance enough to stumble farther ahead then they might have otherwise?

-- Doug Smith

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